Archive for the ‘ListPipe Info’ Category

Problems With PHP4

Friday, February 11th, 2011

Our ListPipe Content Generator plugin is only compatible with PHP5 and above. This is due to an issue regarding a change in PHP5 to support a command called 'try' that we use in order to create the handshake between your ListPipe account and your external WordPress blog.

If you have experienced a site-wide error when activating our plugin, notably a "syntax error, unexpected { on line 28", then you are likely running PHP4.

Don't worry; we have a solution...

For those of you who may be having trouble, we have created a special PHP4 plugin that bypasses the 'try' command so that you can connect to ListPipe from a PHP4 server.

Download the ListPipe PHP4 Plugin

We do recommend that you upgrade your server to PHP5 instead, but we realize this may not always be practical.

PS: Our ListPipe Content Generator plugin version 2.5 is fully compatible with WordPress version 3.0.5 (we just haven't updated the reference yet).

Adding Video To Your ListPipe Blog

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

Adding video to your blog is a great way to deliver a message and adds to the entertainment value of your site. The result can be more interest and longer stays.

We encourage you to add video from YouTube.com for several reasons, not the least of which are that you can take advantage of their outstanding video features, ease of use, and access to a global community of You-Tubers who can engage with your videos from computers, phones and tablets.

There are several ways to add a video to your blog. Here is a quick overview of the easier ones:

Quicktags

The easiest way to add video to your blog is via a plugin that we include called Viper's Video Quicktags.

When you log into your blog and create a new post, you will notice a small icon in the editing toolbar for 'YouTube'. Simply place your cursor in your text where you want it to insert, and click the YouTube button.

You will be asked to enter the URL for the video. Click 'OK' and you're finished!

Embed

YouTube provides a handy embed code at the bottom of each of their videos. This embed code is customizable, and allows you to easily embed a video onto your blog.

Just visit your favorite video on YouTube and click the 'Embed' button located under the video. A box will open below the button that includes options for customizing your video including colors, sizes, and the ability to include related videos.

When you are finished selecting your custom options, simply copy the embed code from the box and paste it into the HTML editing window in your blog.

WAIT! You're not finished yet; before you change to the Visual window to continue editing, or save, add paragraph tags to the embed code. This will make the embed code compatible with your WordPress blog and save you the trouble of learning the hard way that WordPress doesn't take kindly to some types of code (for your safety).

Adding paragraph tags is simple; just add one of these to the front of the embed code: '<p>', and one of these to the end of the embed code: '</p>' (do not include the single quotes; those are mine).

Adding these tags is a known workaround to an issue regarding an editor that is included within WordPress called TinyMCE. To learn more about this workaround, visit this WordPress ticket regarding the workaround.

Good luck!

Get Connected to Social Media!

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

We have made some significant strides in our Social Media Connects and it's time to let the cat out of the bag...

You are now able to connect your account to your Twitter and Facebook accounts, including either your personal wall or your company page! Every time we post new content to your site, we'll automatically retweet to your Twitter page or post to your Facebook page (or both!). Each post includes an excerpt of the article and a link back to your site. This is a great way to increase your exposure, and to get great SEO links back to your site.

Here's How:

1. Log into your Facebook account.

2. In a new tab in your browser, Log into your Control Panel.

3. Click the 'Twitter Facebook' button.

4. Click the 'Link Facebook' button (this process works the same for the 'Link Twitter' button).

5. You may be asked for your Twitter or Facebook login information at this point*. If not, move to #6 below...

6. Facebook is asking for your permission to link to ListPipe Link. Click 'Allow' at the bottom of the screen to continue.

7. Finished! That's all it takes! To confirm that you have a connection, notice that the 'Link Facebook' button has changed to 'Unlink Facebook' in your Control Panel window.

You can unlink your Facebook account at any time by logging into your Control Panel, navigating to the Facebook Twitter button, and clicking 'Unlink Facebook' (or 'Unlink Twitter').

You can deauthorize the application in your Facebook account, too. Simply login to your Facebook account and select 'Account' in the upper right-hand corner. Choose 'Privacy Settings', then at the bottom-left, under 'Applications and Websites' select 'Edit your settings'. Then in the 'Applications you use' section, select the 'Edit Settings' button to the right. You will see an application called 'ListPipeLink'. Just click on the 'X' to remove the application. Done!

*We do not share your social media login information with anyone.

Pasting From Word Is A No-no

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

Some of our ListPipe customers have complained that their content has been unexpectedly truncated during delivery.

If it seems that you have only received half an article, or that a sentence suddenly ends without explanation, it could be that you have a special character in your Content Form that is causing the problem.

What is a 'special character'? High end word processing applications such as Microsoft Word use a special hidden code to create some special characters, for instance the apostrophy. You have probably heard of 'smart quotes', and notice that when you use them in Word, you get a nicely formatted version of quote marks that are more stylish. Word uses some special code to create these marks, and that code is not compatible with most Web technologies. Herein lies the problem...

When you copy content from a Word document, you are actually grabbing special characters that include additional code. When a Web system encounters that code it can cause problems. This is likely what is happening to your ListPipe content if you have notices unwanted breaks in your sentences.

Avoid copying and pasting content directly from Microsoft Word. Especially if the content includes apostrophes (as in possessive names such as 'Joe's Bar and Grill') or quotes. To eliminate the extra hidden code from applications such as Word, you can paste your content into an interim application that will strip it out such as a text editor, or use the Word import feature on your WordPress blog.

If you have been having this problem with your ListPipe site, please review these suggestions to resolve the problem; it is likely that they have an apostrophe, or other 'smart' character, in their Content Form:

  • For RelayPipe customers the fix is easy: Simply go to the Content Form in your ListPipe Control Panel and re-type the offending character from within your browser (don't copy from Word). Save, and all should be well.
  • For Hosted customers, you will need to fix the offending character in your Control Panel, and then delete all your content from within your WordPress Control Panel. Send us a note with your username and URL and we can republish the articles to your account.
  • For External WordPress customers, the solution is similar: Correct the offending character in your ListPipe Control Panel, then delete all the broken content within your blog and send us a request for a republish. We will need your username and URL (to find your account in the system).

New WordPress Training Videos Posted

Thursday, September 11th, 2008

We recently posted an all new collection of WordPress training videos for WordPress bloggers. Learn how to do the basics in WordPress.

You can view our recommended top ten wordpress training videos here. Just click on the headline for each numbered item to go to the video page.

You can also dive straight into our ListPipe WordPress video library from this page.

Our how-to videos are presented in high quality Quicktime on the site, and are available on YouTube if you want to see them in a smaller version. When you get to YouTube, do a search for 'ListPipe' and 'Wordpress' to find all the videos. There are currently 13 of them, covering topics such as logging in, and inserting images.

Each video on our demo blog includes written instructions on how to complete the task in the latest WordPress version. Each video is designed to teach you a specific task in between two and three minutes. For those of you new to WordPress blogging, this is an excellent way to become familiar with the basics of your WordPress system.

Take a look and let us know what you think. Enjoy!

What is ListPipe?

Friday, June 13th, 2008

ListPipe Custom Copywriting for the WebListPipe is an organic web marketing service that helps improve your site rank in search engines.

To do this, we take advantage of organic search engine optimization (SEO) strategies that work to attract search engines to your site, increase the level of attention they dedicate to you, and raise the search rank they apply.

To facilitate this, we provide a blog website, hosting, and regular, weekly content, written just for you. Our articles are researched, optimized, and professionally written to appeal to search engine traffic.

We emphasize Powerful Custom Content™ with just the right number of keywords, links, and localization.

Ready to widen your web marketing? Get Started today!

New Sub Domains to Choose From!

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

We have been working to improve our system, and have implemented the ability for new customers to select from a growing range of custom sub-domains. This means we can now deliver an automated blog system through ListPipe that provides a little more autonomy from the ListPipe system itself.

We are starting with three new domains to choose from; one from each of our current target markets:

When a new customer of ListPipe signs up for a new blog, and subscription to our custom copywriting service, you will have the opportunity to select from one of these domains, and then have the opportunity to name your own sub-domain in the system.

The result is an automated system that allows you to create a blog site such as 'californiarealestate.myrealestateagentblog.com'. Naming a sub-domain with a keyword modifier provides an important advantage in SEO, and the more relevant domain names will go a long way to help expand our ability to market the blogs within our system.

We are thrilled that we can now deliver more relevant sub-domains for our future customers. Pass this news along to anyone you know in the real estate, dentistry, or chiropractic markets.

What are the SEO benefits of ListPipe?

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

Search engine optimization has many facets. Our focus is on what is called ‘organic content’, which is what search engines look for when measuring the liveliness and relevance of a site. Search engines want to deliver the most relevant and most current sites at the top of search results, so they look specifically for sites that demonstrate recent activity, and relevancy based on keyword frequency.

Our goal is to provide you with a convenient tool that helps you widen your web marketing without you having to become an expert blogger. After all, you have spent plenty of time learning to be great at your profession; leave the web marketing to us. We’ll help you increase your page rank, rise to the top of search results, and attract search engine traffic to your site.

Here is a quick look at some of our key features, and their benefits to you:

  • Frequency: We provide one article each week. This is the minimum optimal frequency for posting, and indicates to the search engines that your site content is lively and current. Sites that allow their content to grow stagnant are discounted by search engines as ‘less relevant’ because they do not have current information.
  • Keyword Research: We load each article with keywords that are relevant to your industry, and add a second helping of supporting keywords and phrases to help search engines understand your relationship to your market. Keywords, when used properly, help search engines index your site appropriately so that you are listed in the appropriate results
  • Linking: We incorporate an advanced linking strategy into every article we publish on your behalf. Each article includes links to your home site from keywords, URLs, and even graphics. All this is coordinated in order to demonstrate to the search engines that your keywords are intimately related to your home site. We also include high-value links to your named associations, and industry-related articles. Our linking strategy is designed to build credibility for your home page by association.
  • Localization: Most web searches are for products or services that are local to the user. With this in mind, our content strategy incorporates a mix of localizing keyword modifiers including your location by city, state, and surrounding areas. Establishing yourself as a fixture in a localized community helps you climb to the top of the search results for the most popular searches.
  • Customization: The articles that we publish to your blog are customized with your unique information. This creates a one-of-a-kind article that is expressly written just for you. We call this Powerful Custom Content™ that search engines recognize as unique, fresh, and real. The advantage of Powerful Custom Content means that search engines recognize your content as real, human-readable content that is meaningful, and therefore valued highly in search results.
  • Marketing: In addition to our Powerful Custom Content, we provide additional marketing support for your blog to help increase the attention you get from the search engines. We incorporate linking strategies to lead search engines to your blog as soon as it is created, and include links to your blog in regular marketing announcements and promotional content. Sites in our system are noticed early, and are provided the advantage of direct links from highly ranked pages.
  • Personalization: We have made it easy for you to personalize your own blog with your own content, too. Adding your own content creates even more organic value for your site and we encourage you to add as much content to your site as you can. For your convenience, we provide you with the ability to log into and manage your own blog. Go ahead and add content, upload images, and edit to your heart’s content. To make blogging easy and less intimidating for you, we have included a series of ten instructional videos that visually demonstrate the basics of blogging.

Affiliate Blogging

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

Utah Web Hosting with BluehostAffiliate blogging has become one of the hottest ways to make extra cash. We have learned that contextual links and embedded links are more likely to be followed than an ad or even Google Ads. Contextual links are deemed to be more reliable and more relevant by readers, and are given high credit scores by the search engines.

Enter ListPipe. ListPipe is a terrific platform for creating and distributing organic blog content across a wide range of variables. For instance, ListPipe has recently been engaged by several affiliate bloggers who want to generate Powerful Custom Content and distribute that content to multiple blogs, each established to fulfill search requests in a specific geographic market.

For example, take a look a the ListPipe blog located at http://utahwebhosting.listpipe.com and compare it to the blog at http://californiawebhosting.listpipe.com .

These two blogs are similar in purpose (to market web hosting services at Bluehost), but yet contain unique and relevant content based on their geography. The content for these blogs is written by a subject matter expert with specific SEO skills. The article goes through several drafts before being distributed by the ListPipe blog technology. The result is a web of content, all expertly designed to appeal to the appropriate searching customers in the appropriate geographic regions.

Bounce around our Now Serving area to see the other blogs we are working on. Click Get Started when you are reading to begin your own custom blog.

Dental Blogs

Thursday, February 14th, 2008

James Hull DentistryListPipe has recently completed an installation project for James Hull Associates in the United Kingdom. We installed nearly 50 blogs on an independent server, and connected each blog to its own ListPipe account. With the ListPipe pluggin installed, we are able to deliver Powerful Custom Content to each blog, every week, even though they are not part of the ListPipe.com domain.

The results we are seeing at this early stage are terrific. Within the first 5 days we were indexed by Google. We are now tracking our performance for the UK dentistry market and are watching to see how quickly our Powerful Custom Content is indexed for each of the James Hull Dentistry practices.

Take a look; you can find a few of the blogs in the list below (once you get to a blog, use the blogroll to bounce around and see other blogs in the James Hull association):